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Mayor: Greenwood Election Precincts ‘Unethical’

To the disappointment of Greenwood’s mayor, all cities in Sebastian County but his have aligned their wards with new election precincts based on census data.

“I am very unhappy with the way the City Council did that,” Greenwood Mayor Del Gabbard said. “They redistributed the lines to where some of them would not have to run again for office until their terms are up.”

Gabbard specifically points fingers at Ward 2 Councilman Lance Terry and Ward 3 Councilman A.C. Brown Jr., who would have been moved from their current wards had the city accepted the Sebastian County Election Commission’s proposed map, he said. Brown had no comment. Calls to Terry on Thursday were not returned as of press time Friday.

The City Council drew its own voting precinct map based on current city wards, despite a recommendation to the contrary by the Election Commission.

Members of the Election Commission said they gave Greenwood a ward map that corresponds with new precinct lines and distributes its estimated 9,000 population evenly with about 3,000 people in each of its three wards.

“The state law with a city councilman says he has to live in the ward in which he runs,” Election Coordinator Jerry Huff said. “When we redrew the precincts, it moved some of them out of their wards so they would have to run against each other. They chose not to follow precinct lines because it would put some of them against each other.”

Gabbard calls the council’s decision “legal but unethical.”

“I’m 100 percent against it,” he said. “I know it’s political.”

The council’s map has caused split precincts, which will double the city’s number of ballots from 7 to 14.

“It’s going to be a lot more expensive,” Election Commissioner David Harp said.

Sebastian County Clerk Sharon Brooks, who oversees elections, said Greenwood’s split precincts will prompt more work, “but it can be done.”

“It just takes a little more work for us in order to make sure everybody is in their right precinct,” she said. “It’s just making sure we get all the splits. We’ve had them before and it’s nothing new.”